Hannah Gilman (13) has 16 goals and 10 assists for Cathedral this season. (The Republican staff photo by Dave Roback)

For the second time in three years, the Cathedral High School girls hockey team is back in the Division I state tournament and once again hosting its opening game.

The Panthers (9-6-2) earned the No. 16 seed in the massive 27-team field, earning a home game against No. 17 Billerica (11-6-3) at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Cyr Arena in Springfield.

Just like in 2010, a Cathedral win would set up a meeting with the tournament’s No. 1 seed. This time, the Panthers would take on Acton-Boxboro (17-1-2) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Nashoba Valley Olympia in Boxboro.

To get there, though, Cathedral must take care of Billerica. The Panthers have received steady goaltending all season from Emily Spencer (2.79 GAA, .911 save percentage) and scoring punch from Amy Haggerty (18 goals, 12 assists), Hannah Gilman (16, 10) and Jessie Egan (9, 16).

The Cathedral team is a co-op team with players also coming from Longmeadow, East Longmeadow and Monson High Schools.

SUPER 8: The Cathedral boys do not play again until Sunday, kicking off Division IA “Super 8” round-robin play against St. John’s Prep of Danvers.

Starting times for Sunday’s opening contests – all held at Merrimack College in North Andover – will be announced Wednesday. The Panthers (10-6-6) are in Bracket 2 with St. John’s Prep, St. Mary’s of Lynn and the winner of Monday’s play-in game between Burlington and Central Catholic of Lawrence.

In the regular season, Cathedral tied St. John’s, lost to St. Mary’s and did not play Burlington or Central Catholic.